Earlier this year, we invited readers to tell us how they are dealing with the challenge of practicing in the era of information technology and performance measurement. Our goal was to learn about innovative ways to improve patient care or make medical practice more efficient.
After careful consideration of the dozens of contest entries that we received, the three members of our editorial board who served as contest judges identified the six contest participants who submitted the most practical and creative ideas.
The six physicians who submitted the winning entries are Dr. Richard B. Gremillion of Sandy, Utah; Dr. Arnold Jay Simon of Palm Springs, Fla.; Dr. Mukesh Bhargava of Sanford, Maine; Dr. Alan Brush of Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. Jonathan D. Krant of Pittsfield, Mass.; and Dr. Randolph J. Swiller of Coral Springs, Fla. Each of these contestants will receive a video iPod.
This month, we're presenting the first two winning contest entries—the two innovations that earned the highest marks from our contest judges.
As INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWS heads into 2007—the year that we'll be celebrating our 40th year of publication—you can continue reading about the practice-enhancing strategies that readers submitted during the contest. In addition to the ideas described on this page, we heard about patient education techniques, prescription refill systems, home visits to enhance patient care, the use of voice-recognition software, and many other innovations.
Although we're awarding prizes to six physicians, we also heard from other readers who deserve credit for submitting useful ideas. We'd like to express special thanks to the runner-up contestants:
▸ Dr. Asif Ali of Houston, Tex.
▸ Diane Atkinson, Office Manager for Dr. John P. Papp and Dr. John P. Papp Jr. of Grand Rapids, Mich.
▸ Dr. Ace Barash of Ukiah, Calif.
▸ Dr. S. Germain Cassiere of Shreveport, La.
▸ Tammy Cleary, on behalf of Dr. Kevin G. Cleary of Depew, N.Y.
▸ Dr. Roger C. Dunham of Santa Barbara, Calif.
▸ Dr. John Guzek of Scranton, Pa.
▸ Dr. Ronald Hirsch of Elgin, Ill.
▸ Dr. L. Allen Kindman of Oxford, N.C.
▸ Dr. Stephenie Lucas of Detroit, Mich.
▸ Dr. Sanyu Pawar of Oklahoma City, Okla.
▸ Dr. Timothy Rodgers of Bryn Mawr, Pa.
▸ Dr. Gerald Saliman of Hillsborough, Calif.
▸ Dr. Kenneth Stark of Tavares, Fla.
▸ Dr. Sharad Swami of Clinton, Okla.
▸ Dr. Rod Tanchanco of Middletown, Del.
▸ Dr. Anthony John Tarasenko of Summit, N.J.
▸ Dr. Benson W. Yu of Fairfax, Va.
The “Reinventing Your Practice” column will appear in the Practice Trends section in the first issue of each month. We hope you'll find ideas here that you can put to work in your own practice.